Not so Hidden Talent
by shadowhuntingdauntlessdemigod
Summary: Dean has spent his whole life being a hero for kids (not that he'll ever admit it). He'll save them from hunts, from bad weather, and anything else that goes wrong. It's no secret to Sam that Dean's good with kids. He always has been and always will be. But he's especially good with the one he raised himself. (Lots of Big Brother!Dean)


_Welcome! This follows a bit of a similar style as my previous story, Knock Knock, but they are in no way connected, so don't worry. I wrote that and then got the idea for this, more events throughout their lives that tie together some stuff we've seen on the show a few times. And I know, Sam has his moments with kids too, but I tend to notice Dean's more (he's just so good with them) and there are some I missed, but I couldn't possibly fit all of them in._

_Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy! If you like this style/format, maybe let me know? Thanks! And I still own nothing._

* * *

Dean Winchester is a man of many talents. Some of them he will proudly admit to (ladies man, marksman, badass hunter, mechanic, bacon cheeseburger cooking extraordinaire, pie eating champion, to name a few). Others he will tolerate being acknowledged for (hero, savior) but won't outwardly show how much it makes him feel. Others he won't admit to.

The one that has always stuck out to Sam is just how good his older brother is with kids. It shouldn't be surprising, considering how much of Dean's own nonexistent childhood was spent raising Sam. And Sam knows he has his brother to thank for how he turned out in the end. He can't imagine what things would have been like if Dean had been a little less devoted to or protective over Sam's well being.

He's there with his father to proudly cheer Sam on as he takes his first steps, though obviously Sam doesn't remember the specifics. One night, when Dean was delirious from some pretty heavy painkillers after they had just lost dad a few months prior, he went into the story of how John's eyes lit up as Sam took his first steps, and wasn't even surprised to find that they were towards Dean.

Dean walks him to school, makes sure he gets his work done on time, and deals with anyone that may be an impediment to Sam's overall well being. As Sam gets older, he becomes more embarrassed by it, but that doesn't mean he really wants Dean to stop. Dean understands, of course, without Sam having to say a word.

He may cringe when Dean honks the horn and grins when he picks Sam up in front of the two friends he's made at school. He'll roll his eyes and keep a scowl on his face until they're down the road and Dean nudges his shoulder and asks how his book presentation went.

While Sam has always been and always will be Dean's number one priority, he's not the only one that Dean takes care of every so often, though these shows of care are much less obvious. When he hears from Sam that one of his friends, Sarah, doesn't have a lunch at school most days, Sam starts finding a few extra items in his own. It's usually nothing more than a granola bar, or an orange, but it's what they can spare. Sam never asks and Dean never tells and Sarah never knows that it's actually Dean's doing.

But Sam knows that Dean sees her smile across the lunch room whenever Sam hands her one of the items (or a second from what's supposed to be his own lunch, which usually gets him a narrowed but understanding glance from his older brother), so that's really what matters.

They're in Michigan for a few week in high school when the snow gets bad. Dean always drives them straight from school to the motel, but one day when Sam walks out a few minutes later than normal, there's a girl sitting in the front seat. She's not one of the popular girls that Dean normally goes for, and they aren't even making out, which Sam's come to expect whenever he sees his brother with some girl in the front seat.

They're sitting a comfortable distance away, just talking and smiling. Dean's smile turns into a grin as soon as Sam slips into the back seat. Dean introduces the girl as Marie, who's a junior, a year below Dean even, so Sam has no idea how he knows her. They end up driving her to her house first and then to the motel. This happens for three more days until the snow stops falling quite as hard.

Marie tells Sam to thank Dean for her later, since she never seems to bump into him. He had found her in front of the school, freezing, her dad with a car that wasn't at all equipped for snow and wasn't able to pick her up on the worst days. Her friends had also bailed, which had been great. Dean had offered simply to take her home until her dad could figure something out, and besides, her house was on the way to his.

The motel had been in the opposite direction, but Dean never once complained about it, and Sam never found it right to mention it.

Sure, Marie isn't necessarily a kid, but she's someone younger than Dean that he feels a call to help and does so, which fits into the category Sam's made.

There are more instances too, outside of school, on the job, where Sam gets to know about Dean's 'hidden' talent firsthand.

Cases involving kids are usually rough and emotional ones for a variety of reasons. The kids are either bait, kidnapped, hurt, or gone, sometimes a combination of those options. One particularly bad hunt that will stay with Sam for the rest of his life is the three days they spent in northern Oregon investigating a string of disappearances linked to dead parents.

It was clearly a small pack of werewolves that went after parents and their children taking evening walks by the forest. They'd kill the parents and take the kids, plain and simple. Except it was anything but. The police had found the bodies of the six adults, left like proud calling cards, but had yet to find any evidence of the kids. That was where the Winchesters came in.

Sam and John had been holding off the three werewolves while Dean made his way into the nearby cave to see if he could find the three missing kids. By the time all three wolves were dead, there was still no sign of Dean, and they resorted to screaming his name through the woods.

John headed back to the car, in case Dean's phone had been damaged and he had missed them on his way out. They had moved quite a bit during the fight, and it wasn't hard to get turned around in the dark woods, even with all their experience. Sam returned to the cave. There were footsteps in, but none going out. Sam was tempted to run in as soon as he got there, but he could be walking into a similar trap. It was safer to wait for John to get back in case Dean wasn't at the car.

As it turned out, Sam didn't have to wait much longer. Only a few minutes after he had gotten there, Dean stumbled out, arms full of children.

He was carrying all three of them as if they were nothing but paper dolls. He had a gash on his cheek, dirt streaked across his face and clothes, and the jacket around his left shoulder was shredded. Even in the dim moonlight, Sam could see the dark stain glistening and spreading, a clear marker that there was a wound underneath still leaking blood. It had to be screaming in pain with the added weight he was carrying.

But his eyes carried the most weight of all. They were red, a clear sign he had been crying, or trying to hold it back at least, and not just from the pain.

Sam counted the kids in Dean's arms again.

Three.

He had carried all three of them out from that hellhole, who knew how far, and out to safety.

Dean looked down at the three of them, quickly checking them over once again, before he lifted his eyes to Sam's. "One of the monsters was guarding them," Dean said in a clipped tone as he clenched his jaw. Sam could tell that the kids had all been minorly injured, but it didn't seem to be anything beyond scrapes and bruises, which was extremely lucky.

The closer Sam looked, the more he realized that all three kids in his brother's arms were shaking with quiet sobs, and Dean was doing everything in his power to not make it worse. The clipped sentences were his way of staving off the worst of it because he knew his voice wouldn't hold up to any type of scrutiny. He didn't specify werewolf, so maybe there was a chance that the kids hadn't been overly exposed to what really lived in the shadows. A monster could easily be passed off as a crazy person to authorities.

Sam nodded silently and watched as his big brother, barely twenty, hoisted the three children under five into a more comfortable position. There were arms wrapped around his neck, his shoulders, his torso, anywhere they could find comforting purchase. He loudly cleared his throat, and Sam could tell he was trying to get rid of some of the emotion there.

"So, you guys are from around here, right? What types of trees are these, hm? Oh here, I know this one." He didn't pause as he began walking away from the cave back in the direction towards civilization. "You see, with the white bark, that's an alder. And there's another, and another, I mean, we're in a forest, so there's probably plenty of trees…"

Dean's prattling was lost the further he got from Sam.

He couldn't make his voice even for his brother, but he'd be damned if he couldn't do it for some scared kids to try and ease their minds from the horrors they'd witnessed.

With the threat gone, Sam only followed for a minute or so before he got down to business. He finished getting rid of the wolves' bodies and when he had gotten back to the car, little more than fifteen minutes later, there were multiple ambulances and flashing lights bathing the trees in red. John was giving his statement to the police, the one they'd discussed beforehand in case: that they'd been hunting and heard screams and went and found the kids.

Sam hung back for a few moments, just watching. One of the kids was being checked out in an ambulance, another was wrapped up in the arms of what he guessed to be family members. The other kids' relatives had yet to arrive, but Sam was sure they had been notified. The third child took a little longer to find.

He eventually went around to where Dean was perched on the trunk of the Impala, being checked out by one of the medics. Only, it turned out that the one being looked over was actually a little blonde girl. She was sitting on Dean's lap, tucked as close to him as she could get. He was holding her securely, though not saying anything at the moment.

The medic pressed a bandage on over the girl's hand and she winced, making Dean's grip on her tighten before he rubbed her arm up and down in a soothing motion and began whispering in her ear. Sam could guess what his brother was saying, he'd been on the receiving end of many of those placations over the years. They always worked like magic. It was clear that Dean hadn't lost his touch from how fast the girl's tears dried and she nodded.

When the ambulance worker stood up to get a look at Dean's arm, he shook his head. Getting it checked out would mean making the girl move, which he wouldn't be okay with. The medic didn't look pleased, but he allowed it.

Dean greeted him with a tired smile when Sam came around to the back of the car.

"This is my baby brother Sammy I was telling you about," Dean said quietly, looking between the girl and Sam.

The girl eventually shifted her eyes up to look at Sam too. "He's not a baby," she commented, which made Dean's smile grow.

"Nah, sure he is, he's still a teenager, that makes him a baby."

Sam let out a soft chuckle, more for the girl's amusement, and rolled his eyes.

"This is Rebecca," he introduced for the girl, which she nodded to.

"Hi there, Rebecca," Sam smiled and knelt down so he could see her better in his brother's arms.

"Hi," she said back in a small voice.

"It's good to see you, we're glad you're safe."

She nodded into Dean's chest. "It's 'causa him. He's a hero."

Dean shied away from the comment and opted to move her slightly in his grasp instead of replying. So Sam did it for him.

"That he is," he agreed. Dean didn't have to look at him to tell that Sam meant it with every fiber of his being.

It wasn't much longer before Rebecca's grandparents came and she launched herself out of Dean's grasp to get to them. There were thank you's all around and Dean just looked relieved that the ordeal was finally over.

They ended up having to take Dean to the hospital to get his face bandaged and his shoulder stitched back together, but Dean didn't complain once the whole time.

Sam still catches a glimpse of that scar every now and again, white and faded with time, but a permanent marker of the good his brother's done for the world and its future.

.

Sam tries not to think much about Dean's gift with kids while he's away at Stanford. He tries not to think about how he could use a pep talk now and again, or a reminder to not stress too much even though he'd definitely ignore it, or a sandwich shoved in front of his face when he hadn't had time to make one himself.

He'd never admit it out loud, but he misses it.

But at the same time, he knows that Dean's gifts are being put to good use elsewhere.

.

When they meet up again after a few years of not seeing each other, which Sam once thought was impossible, it doesn't take long for him to see just how far his brother's come.

They're investigating a lake monster that's linked to a kid, Lucas, that became traumatized after surviving the attack. Sam watches from the sidelines as Dean over and over tries to connect with the kid. He's honest when he speaks with him, more honest than he even is with Sam. He brings up mom and their family more with this small stranger than he seems to with his own brother. He draws Lucas pictures and tells him to be brave and reminds him that it's okay to be scared.

In the end, it's that effort that saves all of them.

Sam doesn't know where they'd be without it. Of course, there's no mention of it once they're back on the road. Dean has a Zeppelin album going full blast, over the moon that he'd taught Lucas one of his own favorite phrases.

Sam takes a moment to just relish his brother's relaxed shoulders, the easy smile on his face, and the way his hands tap against the steering wheel. They're the markers of a job mostly well done, but also of a man at peace with what he's done with the world.

.

Dean almost dies a few months later trying to take down a raw head that kidnapped two children. Sam isn't even surprised, and he's glad Dean did what he did, even though it hurts like nothing else seeing him in that hospital bed and knowing what's probably around the corner.

.

Two years later, they're stuck in a town where apparently the kids themselves are the monsters. It would be disturbing enough as is if one of the kids weren't Dean's own possibly-not-maybe-actually-definitely-not son.

The monsters make two of the biggest mistakes in the book in one fell swoop: impersonating a child, and impersonating a child Dean cares about.

He burns them to the ground for it, literally.

Sam doesn't mock him afterwards for holding Ben an extra few seconds or really checking over the kid to make sure he's okay.

Dean's kid or not, he's still a _kid_, and that's the only distinction his brother needs.

That's part of the reason why, years later, it breaks Sam's newly-replaced soul to have Dean drive away from the hospital, stealing a few glances in the rearview mirror before it completely fades from view when he thinks Sam isn't looking.

It's his way of protecting Ben, and Sam knows it.

He only wishes there were a way to make it hurt less for Dean, to repay in some fashion the amount of peace of mind his brother's always been able to give him.

.

It's years later when Sam uncovers a part of Dean's past he never even thought was there for him to uncover. They're back at Sonny's, which apparently Dean stayed at for a few months nearly two decades ago. For the most part they split up to do interviews, but Sam can't help but notice Dean's tendency to stick up for the small kid, Timmy, that is otherwise at the mercy of the other bigger kids in the home.

Sam finds himself fleetingly wondering if Dean did a similar thing when he himself was in the home. Sam doesn't have to think on it much longer. Of course Dean did.

So when they set Timmy's mom free, it's no surprise that Timmy runs straight into Dean's arms. Dean looks surprised to the untrained eye, but Sam knows he's just grateful that despite everything, the kid's alright. It doesn't hurt that the lessons he taught Timmy are what led them to being able to get rid of the ghost in the first place, but that's not something Dean will mention.

Sam knows it, though, and that's enough.

.

He watches Dean, sometimes right next to him, sometimes from the sidelines, with the kids that get dragged into the life. Kid in Dean speak usually means anyone ten years younger than him (maybe a little less depending on the person) no matter if they're into their twenties. It applies to Claire and Alex and Chrissy at different points in time over the years. While their situations may be different, one thing that never wavers is Dean's devotion to keeping them as safe as he possibly can.

Eventually Chrissy goes her own way and Claire and Alex find a permanent and safe home with Jody, but that doesn't stop Dean from checking in or giving Claire hunting tips whenever she may ask for them. Both Sam and Dean know what it's like to grow up in the life, but unlike his brother, Dean had a small taste of what that life was like before hunting took over. Maybe it helps him relate to them more, connect with them on that level because he too understands what they've been stripped of and in a way wants to give them back as much of that as he can.

.

Years later, it's not a werewolf that threatens to beat Sam, but instead a nasty cold. Okay, maybe it's a bit more on the side of bronchitis, but it's fine, really. He spends the first two days by himself in the bunker, mostly lying in bed and only getting up to get tea or crackers or medicine.

Dean had already been on a parts run for the Impala a few states over when Sam had gotten sick, and he wasn't about to call Dean back to the bunker just because he isn't feeling well.

But that doesn't mean that his shoulders don't instinctively drop in relief when he hears Dean's boots coming down the hallway.

"Man, even with the deals Reggie gives me, you would not believe how much this stuff costs. Inflation, I'm tellin' you, man!" he calls across the bunker. Normally Sam would reply, but his throat's sore and his head hurts and he's trying to breathe as little as possible.

"Yo, Sammy, you home?" There's a bit more worry in it that time, as he knows that Sam usually replies.

Sam musters up a pitiful 'yeah!' just to put Dean's mind at ease. Still, he comes into Sam's room three seconds later and just stands in the doorway.

"Dude," he raises a hand up and puts it back down, "the hell did you do now?"

"Not like I decided this," Sam mutters, knowing Dean's joking but also not really being in the mood.

"Uh-huh," Dean huffs and comes over to Sam's bed. He puts his hand to his brother's forehead, and Sam can tell just from how cool Dean's hand is that he must be running a fever. "You're pretty warm. Why didn't you call me?"

"I'm good. Muddling through, how I always-" the last few words are cut off with a cough, and Dean's hand goes from Sam's forehead to rub circles on his back.

He sighs again, though not from Sam being sick, but from the fact that he didn't call him. "You needed the parts," he manages once he has his breath back. There's a glass of water passed to him before he can say any more.

"Newsflash, Sam, lungs are also important parts to your body." Sam rolls his eyes at that. "Whatever, I'm here now, what do you want to eat?"

Sam just shrugs. "Not really hungry."

Dean looks at him appraisingly for a moment, judging how bad it is and what the best course of action to take would be. "Noodle soup it is, coming your way in twenty." He casts Sam another glance before leaving the room.

Sam settles into his pillows more comfortably than before. If he thinks about it, soup actually does sound good, and Dean knows to put carrots in it too like Sam likes.

As promised, Dean returns twenty minutes later with two bowls of soup and a smoothie for Sam. He passes the soup off as carefully as he can once Sam gets situated and leaves the smoothie on Sam's nightstand.

"So, bake-off or cook-off?" Dean questions as he pulls up one of the chairs next to Sam's bed and sits down. He grabs the remote with his free hand and begins to flick through the Netflix options.

"I'm fine, Dean, really, thank you," Sam tries.

Dean just casts him a sideways glance and goes back to surfing. "Trying to get me to leave already, huh?"

"Trying to not get you sick," Sam halfheartedly explains and blows on his soup.

Dean just chuckles and settles on some type of baking competition (the mind-numbing easy nonsense they watch when they're under the weather or overwhelmed). "I'll get sick eventually anyways, sharing a bunker with your sick face, may as well speed up the process and get you better ASAP so you can take care of me." He smirks at Sam and turns his attention back to the television.

Just like at every other moment in Sam's life, Dean isn't going anywhere. He's in the bunker, taking care of his kid, just like he always has. But he won't view it as a talent, because it's been hardwired into him since he was four years old. It's part of him. It's all he knows. He couldn't leave Sam to his own devices when he's in pain because he simply doesn't know how to.

And that to a degree also extends to every other kid on the planet, all of whom Dean would probably save if given the opportunity.

Sam gets halfway through the soup before he moves onto the smoothie, which is good, but not overly sweet, just how he likes. Dean joins him on the bed when the first episode ends, complaining about sitting in a car all day and now a chair and if he's about to get sick he's doing it in comfort.

He slips the smoothie from Sam's grasp when he notices goosebumps appearing on Sam's arms. Without a word he turns on the second episode and pulls the blankets up to Sam's chest, leaving himself comfortably uncovered.

Sam begins to zone out not long after, watching someone make fondant flowers on screen. He begins to tilt sideways and his head is caught by Dean's shoulder in the comfortably nook he's carved for himself after all these years.

Dean shifts ever so slightly, probably knowing he'll be in that position for a while, before he sighs and gets truly comfortable. That's when Sam allows himself to close his eyes and enjoy the reprieve it gives him from the headache.

Dean starts softly carding his hands through Sam's hair not long after, and that's what finally does him in. He sleeps better for six solid hours than he has for the past two days.

It's no secret to Sam that Dean's good with kids. He always has been and always will be.

But he's especially good with the one he raised himself.


End file.
